This invention relates to the disproportionation of functional olefins and to the products resulting therefrom.
The disproportionation of olefins containing other functional groups is a very desirable technique for obtaining valuable chemicals that otherwise would require multistep preparations that are costly and often give products that are difficult to purify. The disproportionation of olefins containing ester and ether groups is particularly interesting in that it provides a route to chemicals having potential application in insect control because of the ability of the compounds to disrupt the mating of specific insects.
It has been noted by those working in the area of insect pheromones that the microstructure ratio of functional olefins can often have a significant influence upon the effectiveness of a particular functional olefin as an insect control agent. Thus, while some insects are attracted to a trans isomer, others may be attracted to a cis isomer, and still others may be best attracted by a particular molar ratio of cis and trans isomers.
A particularly useful catalyst system for the production of functional olefins has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,780, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The present invention is based upon the discovery that by selecting the proper reactants, it is possible to vary the isomer ratio in the recoverable functional olefin disproportionation product.